The 6 primary types of Spotify playlists that can feature your song

The biggest indicator of success on Spotify is the number of times your songs have been added to playlists.

Before you spend much time thinking about getting your music onto Spotify playlists, you’ll want to mke sure you’re a verified artist on Spotify, which is simple to do (and no longer requires that you have at least 250 followers on the platform).

You don’t NEED to be verified in order to get your songs added to Spotify playlists, of course, but it definitely helps demonstrate to playlist curators that they should take your music more seriously. If you’re active on the platform, they’ll assume you’re also more likely to promote their playlists should they feature your music.

Here are the main kinds of Spotify playlist

1. Curated Spotify playlists

These are playlists like Your Favorite Coffeehouse and RapCavier where the music is selected by Spotify’s in-house editorial team. These playlists can also have millions of followers.

Because they are Spotify’s most powerful editorial tools, official playlists get promoted like crazy within the platform. No big surprise: they’re also the most coveted placements, so you and every other artist on the planet wants in.

So how do you get the attention of the Spotify editorial team? Well, the old “who-you-know” methods still apply: connected publicists, managers, labels, distributors, digital promotion experts, etc. — people in the industry that have the ear of a Spotify playlist curator or two.

But there’s another way, one that doesn’t require you to have connections or a big promotion budget: start DIY, get your songs onto lots of smaller playlists, and begin teaching Spotify’s algorithm to be on the lookout for more song activity from you.

The more activity your songs get, and in particular, the more your songs are added to playlists, the more likely it becomes that Spotify’s editorial team will take notice.

This playlist activity also increases your chances of being added to…

2. Algorithmic Playlists

Spotify automatically generates two personalized playlists for users: Discover Weekly and Release Radar. While most of the industry is focused on getting official playlist placements, algorithmic playlists are actually driving far more streams, according to Spotify UK’s Bryan Johnson, and THIS is really where DIY artists should be spending their energy.

The more followers you have on Spotify, the more times someone saves your song to their queue, library, or playlists, the better your song’s chances of being added to either of these personalized playlists:

Release Radar is updated every Friday with up to two hours of new songs and relevant tracks from artists that you’ve shown interest in as a listener on Spotify.

Discover Weekly is updated with fresh music every Monday, with songs chosen according to your own listening history and that of other users that like similar music.

This is why it’s crucial to get your fans to follow you on Spotify since your releases can be automatically added to your followers’ Discover Weekly and Release Radar playlists. The more followers you have, the more fans who’ll never miss out on your new tunes. The more people who enjoy a new release early on, the more Spotify will serve that music up on more algorithmic playlists.

3. Branded playlists

These are Spotify playlists managed by third parties, such as Pitchfork, or major-label playlists such as Topsify.

Most branded playlists will try to strike a balance between established artists and emerging artists as a way of achieving tastemaker stature — so don’t count yourself out of the running for a branded playlist, even if you’re not signed to or otherwise directly affiliated with the entity that created the playlist.

4. Your own playlists

Just what they sound like: you create them, you promote them, and (assuming you’re verified) you feature them on your artist discography page!

You’ll have plenty of chances to create playlists using your own music (Greatest Hits, set lists, etc.). But it’s also good to curate a list of other artists’ songs and then include one of your own songs in the bunch. That way your playlist can have a broader appeal beyond your existing audience, and you’ll still have a chance to make some new fans if they like your song.

Curating your own playlists can be great not only for connecting with existing fans, but for deepening your relationship with your music scene and other artists because you can trade playlist placements; “I put your song on my list — you put my song on yours.”

Which brings us to…

5. Other peoples’ playlists

These could be playlists run by any of Spotify’s millions of users, including other artists, bloggers, or fans.

Google “Spotify playlist” along with your genre and you’re bound to find dozens if not hundreds of really top-notch playlists that are curated by music enthusiasts who are happy to include lesser known artists in the mix.

As always, be polite, follow their playlists, like them on social, engage first, and THEN make your song pitch. If they do add you to their playlist, thank them and share it like crazy. That will increase your chances of them adding another of your songs to their playlists in the future.

6. Collaborative playlists

Anyone on Spotify can opt to create a playlist that’s “collaborative,” meaning any follower of the playlist can alter the list, add or delete songs, change the song order, etc.

In this article

... is the Editor of CD Baby's DIY Musician Blog. I write Beatlesque indie-pop songs that've been praised by No Depression, KCRW, The LA Times, & others. My poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Prairie Schooner, The Poetry Review, & more. I live in Maine and like peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, a little too much.